IMAP Conference Features New Merit Award Winners and Members of the Obama Administration
The IMAP Physicians Advocacy Conference brought together forty of IMAP’s former Soros fellows in Washington D.C. to discuss the role of physicians in advocacy work.
Opening the conference were presentations by IMAP’s two 2009 Merit Award winners – Dr. Michael Fiore of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Dr. Benjamin Hoffman of the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Dr. Fiore, a nationally recognized expert on tobacco, is the founder of the University of Wisconsin Center of Research and Intervention and chaired the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Subcommittee on Tobacco Cessation of the Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health, which produced a comprehensive plan for promoting tobacco cessation in the United States. Dr. Hoffman, a pediatrician, spoke about his advocacy work surrounding child passenger safety. His advocacy work has led to the passage of stronger child passenger safety laws in New Mexico, which has saved hundreds of children’s’ lives. Dr. Fiore and Dr. Hoffman were presented with their awards by Dr. Gerald Thomson, Chair of the IMAP Board.
The conference included presentations by leading physician advocates who now have major roles in the Obama administration. Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the Principal Deputy Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Food and Drug Administration, spoke about the challenges inherent in creating new health policy while balancing the demands of industry, consumers, and the government. Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, explored the advantages and disadvantages of electronic medical records, and advocated for rolling out electronic medical records nationally in order to reduce physician error. Representative Jim McDermott (D, WA), a former neurologist, spoke about the evolution of his political career and his current work on health care reform. Finally, Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, a 2008 IMAP Merit Award Winner who is now director of the Indian Health Service, discussed how her experience growing up as a Native American in South Dakota inspired her to advocate for better health care for Pacific Islanders and Native Americans.
The conference also explored curriculum change in advocacy, featuring presentations by winners of the 2009 IMAP Physician Education and Training Initiative grants: Esther Chung of Jefferson Medical College, Alice Chen of the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine, and Mark Earnest of the University of Colorado at Denver School of Medicine. The 2008 winners of the Education and Training grants – Michele David of Boston Medical Center, Patricia Flanagan of Brown University, and Jeffrey Kaczorowski of the University of Rochester - discussed the achievements and challenges faced by their advocacy programs during their first year of implementation.
For more information about the IMAP Physician Advocacy Program, contact Madeline DiLorenzo, Physician Advocacy Program Coordinator, at 212.305.7961, or md2812@columbia.edu.